ΣUMS PUZZLE HUNT 2013
Act II
Scene 4
www.maths.usyd.edu.au/u/sums/puzzlehunt/
Phases
Author: Sean Gardiner
T
he green inferno pervades the entire forest. With your mask removed,
you watch the living flame spread from trunk to trunk, ghostly fingers
of fire grasping them like blades of grass.
“Shannon!” Lamar yells, all care thrown to the wind. The dreamer will hear him,
and swallow you whole.
Then, you hear a chilling scream, echoing somewhere from your left. Chilling,
and real.
“This way,” you shout, but before you can take a step, the same scream emanates
from somewhere behind you, amidst the deafening blaze and crackling wood.
You spin around and rush into the fire, ignoring its unearthly sting.
Shannon’s figure is clearly silhouetted ahead, at the top of a mound. Your heart
skips a beat and you ready a strip of cloth in hand - if you can just blindfold her,
everything will be all right...but then you glimpse the outline of something huge
behind her.
“Down!” you cry.
Instantly, Lamar and Penny drop beside you, curled up, eyes screwed shut and
arms covering their faces. You do the same, sobbing as you ignore Shannon’s
cries. Then, silence.
Cautiously, you climb to your feet. The flames have disappeared. You approach
Shannon, slumped against a tree trunk at the top of the hill with the Somnus resting in one open palm and a list of cryptic instructions in other. Her vacant eyes
blink, and her chest rises and falls, but she only stares blankly into the darkness
of her own mind.
A ΣUMS PRODUCTION 2013
ΣUMS PUZZLE HUNT 2013
Act II
Scene 4
www.maths.usyd.edu.au/u/sums/puzzlehunt/
Phases
Author: Sean Gardiner
‘Knife’ is to ‘blade’ as ‘fork’ is to this
A ‘capa’ or ‘muleta’ manoeuvre
A term that can follow ‘tabula’
A windy or grating tone of voice
Absurd poet Ogden
An address in German meaning ‘mister’
An annoying or impolite child
An ensemble of actors
As ‘see’ is to ‘eyes’, this is to ‘ears’
Ashen; fade
Band of Norse troops and court guards
Banned item (with “do’s”) (contraction)
Blow so as to dent; force
Bubbly chocolate bar
Cavities on either side of the head
Chest; circumstance
Clear fluids from plants or animals
Declines (as contraction); accustomed
Department of US space research (abbreviated)
Does wrongly or mistakenly
Dry earth; gossip
Edge-sharpening tool
Edibles, or to snack on these
Enrobes; wears
Erodes; chews
Evoke a goose or car
Extremely
Feeling; atmosphere
Funeral service
Got up; flower
Has ‘soft’ and ‘easy’ as antonyms
Hold or own
Home for striped insects
Hoof; imperial measurement
Inferior amount; tiny arachnid
Intelligence; babysit
Juno’s Greek equivalent
Kind of fungus (US spelling)
Long for; need
Longest measurements of time after eons
Metal strap fastened by a pin
Non-SI unit of loudness
Of a benign or moderate manner
Of little or no more value than
Of no practical worth; debatable
Of one’s complexion, pink
Of the moon, to become smaller
Of words, an action or state of being
Olfactory organ
One born in Belgrade
Provide by measure; dole
Pulse; hit
Revulsion; dislike
Second person archaic form of ‘have’
Sign on as an employee
Slow down; exhaust
Sound wave lacking harmonics
Speed; score
Spelling variant of ‘eyrie’ or ‘airy’
The set of cards dealt to a player
They betray people, or eat cheese
They sting and produce honey
Toothpaste flavour
Tricks; prisoners
Urgent; disastrous
Ursine mammal; carry
Whack to the head (slang)
What E stands for in QED
Widespread term for the Epinephelus genus
Word ‘red’, ‘silver’, or ‘sugar’ can precede
A ΣUMS PRODUCTION 2013